Risqué ad for Lastminute banned by TfL
A lastminute.com poster ad featuring a model wearing a pair of edible bikini bottoms has been banned by Transport for London (TfL).
The ad, created by Big Al’s Creative Emporium and the lastminute.com in-house creative team, was due to be displayed at London Underground poster sites as part of an integrated Christmas campaign by the company.
However, Viacom, which looks after advertising for TfL, has ruled that the ad is too risqué for the Tube. It will still run in magazines.
The ad shows a model clad in a “candikini” – a bikini made out of sweets – and carries the slogan/ “That’s the nanny taken care of.”
It is part of the company’s “one-stop Christmas shop” campaign, which features other gift ideas and slogans – one for sponsored animals for African villages uses the strapline: “That’s the family conscience taken care of.”
Lastminute.com lifestyle brand manager Mark McCulloch says the ad was intended to be a “bit of Christmas fun”.
A TfL spokesman says that as a public authority, TfL must consider the sensibilities of people using the network.
The campaign will also see the lastminute.com gift website made available to drinkers in Slug & Lettuce pubs in Bristol, Cardiff, London and Manchester, through table-top arcade-game style machines.
